Speakers

We are very excited to announce that the following people will be speaking at the conference.

Jyrki KatainenVice president of the European Commission

“Solidarity, youth empowerment, lifelong skills and active citizenship are all key building blocks for our societies today and for the future. This is important not least for refugees, especially for refugee children and youth. The European Scout Region is organising a European competition for encouraging all Scouts and young people in Europe to welcome and integrate refugees. We can all learn from these experiences and I look forward to announce the top three best practices on 10 December in Brussels.”

Usaama KaweesaVolunteer

He is 28 years-old and from the UK, volunteered on the Time to be Welcome project in Greece as both a general participant and then as a team leader. His motivation for getting involved with the project stemmed from his own personal background as an immigrant. He claims it’s because of this history, “I feel an affinity with those who have been forced to give up their homes to seek safety and a better life elsewhere in the world.” During his time in Greece, he worked in both Athens and Thessaloniki, where he gained both a powerful insight into inclusion techniques for working with unaccompanied minors, and also a deep understanding of how to support international volunteers on such projects.

She has been involved in youth policy and programme activities in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture since 2009. Before joining the Commission in 1995, she studied law and European Studies in the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium and worked as a European affairs consultant. During her career in the European Commission, Mrs van Houdt has dealt with different topics, including youth, research, entrepreneurship and maritime policies. She has, amongst others, coordinated the work on the Entrepreneurship Green Paper and Action plan, and was a member of the Task Force that launched Maritime Policy, with specific responsibility for maritime businesses. Currently, she is responsible for actions in favour of young people, including the EU Youth Strategy, youth activities under Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps, the European Youth Portal and, more recently, Discover EU. She is also in charge of the EC’s Traineeships Office.

Pavel Trantina

Born in 1975 in České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia. Studied history and political science at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague. Worked as political analyst in the Office of the President of the Czech Republic (1996-2002), International Commissioner of Junák – Association of Scouts and Guides of the Czech Republic (1998-2008, mostly as a volunteer), Chairman of the Czech Council of Children and Youth (2004-2007), Director of the Department of EU Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, responsible for the preparation of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council (2007-2009), and Coordinator of recognition of non-formal education in the ESF funded project „Keys for life“ (2010-2011) focusing on recognition of non-formal education. Currently works as a grant specialist/fundraiser for Junák – Czech Scouting.

Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since 2006, specialized in children and youth issues, education, situation of young people at the labour market and volunteering, 2011-2015 Vice-President of the EESC Group III, 2015-2018 President of the EESC Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, since April 2018 again Vice-President of the EESC Group III. Author of the EESC Opinion on the cost of non-immigration and non-integration (to be adopted in December 2018).

A volunteer for more than 27 years on different levels in several organisations. Since 2013 until May 2017, he was the first President of the European Alliance for Volunteering.

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.